Software Design May Be Behind Health Exchange Glitches

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Delays experienced by millions of users on the federal online health exchange may not be the cause of just web traffic, experts said.

Delays experienced by millions of users on the federal online health exchange may not be the cause of just web traffic, according to experts. There may be design flaws in the system that are also causing the delays, Kaiser Health News reported.

The delays experienced by millions of Americans trying to sign up for health insurance on the federal online marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act may be due to a problem in the software design.

Startup problems aren't unusual for systems of similar size and complexity, but the online delays could deter people from signing up if the delays don't ease by next week.

Insurers are promoting their own websites as alternatives for consumers to compare plans and create accounts later for follow-up. But shoppers may see non-marketplace plans on those insurers' websites. Only exchange plans will be eligible for federal tax credits.

Other experts say there seem to be other technical issues because there wasn't enough time to test the systems.

Exchanges created in the other states were reported to be working better than the federal site because they allow users to shop through plans rather than creating an account, which reduces the burden to servers.